Making Science Education Memorable With Zines at the Natural History Museum: A Mixed Methods Study

• In Event: Innovative Teaching and Mentoring in Educational Psychology

Abstract

Museum visitors typically don’t test, discuss, and validate what they learned, leaving them with vague memories lacking substantial mastery-oriented learning. To address this gap, this study tested and explored the use of zines (pronounced “zeen”) as a learning tool in a Natural History Museum informal setting. Zines are self-published magazine-like artifacts created and presented by the learners to a group. This activity was aimed at applying educational psychology concepts that are known to improve long-term retention (e.g., metacognition, problem-solving, imaginative thinking). Results displayed high content retention, and deep and meaningful learning, supporting the use of zines as an effective and distinctive tool for closing the learning gap of science education in informal settings such as museums, and potentially beyond.

Authors

• April Ursula Fox, University of Nevada - Las Vegas

• Nicole J. Thomas, University of Nevada - Las Vegas